Cooper owns a Motorola Razr M smartphone. He does not look back at the cellular industry with any regret about the way the technology is being used today.

For those always tethered to work nonstop through their phones, Cooper points out the devices have off buttons. While he is not a doctor, he said there is no evidence after years of study that radiation from cellphones causes harm.

Yet he believes the wireless industry needs to get better. “My focus is to improve cellular, get rid of the dropped calls. There is no excuse for that now that the technology has been around for years. And I think the biggest problem today in cellular is the cost.”

Did he get rich from his work in cellular technology? Cooper is coy with the answer.

“I get an enormous amount of satisfaction and pleasure in seeing what the cellphone has done,” he said. “But when I joined Motorola, I signed a document, which I still have, that said Motorola had the rights to any intellectual property I created for $1, which I did not keep.”

Cooper has fond feelings for Motorola. He said the company had the foresight to spend millions on cellular technology even though it took a decade for it to begin to receive a return.

“Motorola treated me really well,” he said.

At the modest office that Cooper and Harris share, replicas of that first brick phone sit in display cases. There’s a crowded workshop — Cooper’s engineering sandbox. Charges clutter the floor. Electronics are scattered on shelves. He still likes to tinker. “I’ve been taking stuff apart my whole life to see how it works,” he said.

Just getting started

Cooper thinks wireless technology has the potential to revolutionize health care as sensors become better at detecting ailments early and tailoring treatments to specific individuals.

“We don’t have a health care system. We have a sick care system,” he said. “Yet we are starting to learn how to anticipate when people are getting sick. If you can sense a disease is starting in somebody, every disease is actionably preventable.”

“We’re really in the early stage – notwithstanding the iPhone and Android,” he said. “The focus has to be on – not even the apps – but what the apps do to make your life more convenient, safer and more productive.”

Marty Cooper

Position: Co-founder and chairman of Dyna, a Del Mar company that created GreatCall, the maker of the Jitterbug mobile phone system that is targeted at seniors.

What: While working for Motorola, Cooper developed a handheld wireless phone and made the first cellular telephone call on April 3, 1973. He is considered the father of the cell phone. Cooper recently won the Marconi Prize and shared the Charles Stark Draper Prize from the National Academy of Engineering.

Specs of the first phone: Called the DynaTAC, the phone was 10 inches long and weighed 2.5 pounds. Its battery lasted for 20 minutes.

Age: 84

Phone he uses today: Motorola Droid Razr M. After

29 years at Motorola, Cooper, a Chicago native, remains fond of the company. He says he hasn’t found a phone he likes better.